JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – President Commissioner of PT Pertamina (Persero) Basuki Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok explained the reason why Pertamina’s fuel oil (BBM) prices did not go down when world crude oil prices weakened, especially subsidized BBM.
He said, for subsidized fuels, namely Pertalite and Solar, the prices did not automatically change following developments in global crude oil prices, because there was a price setting from the government. In addition, it also considers Pertamina’s cash flow.
Ahok explained that the government has set a subsidy value for Pertalite of IDR 1,100 per liter which is paid to Pertamina.
When the price of crude oil rises, the amount of subsidies paid by the government does not go up. As a result, Pertamina had to join the ‘nome’ to maintain Pertalite’s selling price at Rp 10,000 per liter amid rising crude oil prices.
Also read: Crude Oil Prices Are Decreasing, Can Pertalite Prices Decrease?
“We sell oil, people tend to misunderstand. I corrected the subsidy issue, so that people understand. We are set at Rp. 1,100, when oil prices are high, the government doesn’t increase oil, Pertamina is a nombok. If you look at Pertamina’s cash flow, all red,” he said when met at the Ministry of BUMN, Jakarta, Tuesday (18/7/2023).
Therefore, when the price of crude oil falls, Pertamina does not participate in reducing the price. The goal is to help make the company’s finances healthy, which were previously red due to the ‘nombok’.
Ahok also confirmed that Pertamina did not make a large profit from the sale of fuel because it was part of a state assignment.
“Then why does oil (Pertamina fuel) not go down (in price)? Because compared to the private sector, when it goes up we don’t increase it, and when it goes down, we sell oil at gas stations, profit is the thinnest because it’s the government’s job,” he explained .
He added, in an effort to maintain Pertamina’s financial health when it had to “noddle”, the company also carried out cost optimization. One of them is the application of integrated digitization from upstream to downstream.
Through this cost optimization, Pertamina was able to save Rp. 3.27 billion US dollars in three years or throughout 2021-2022.
Also read: Is it Right to Lower the Price of Pertalite if Crude Oil is 60-65 US Dollars Per Barrel?
“So Pertamina’s profits are due to actual cost optimization,” he added.
According to him, the cost optimization strategy will continue to be carried out to maintain the company’s financial health. He said savings would be made by moving Pertamina’s subsidiary offices to assets that are owned by the company, meaning not renting anymore.
“If you don’t want to burden the people with oil, then obviously make savings. The most obvious savings are moving offices,” he said.
“Why do you have a house, your house is abandoned, occupied by unauthorized occupants, then you rent a house, isn’t it funny? You work near your house. That’s all the logic,” Ahok concluded.
Also read: Ahok Meets Erick Thohir, Discusses Pertamina’s Business Expansion to Africa
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2023-07-18 15:00:00
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